Has anyone successfully released a rescued starling?
We rescued Ziggy when we fell from his next a couple of weeks ago (seemed to be about 7 days old), and we had no way of putting him back. So we decided to look after him with the intention of releasing him when he was ready.
He spends most of his time in his cage, but we have a room that we let him out for ‘flight training’ a few times a day. He’s getting pretty good at that.
The area he’s not so good at yet is feeding himself. I’ve started putting live worms in with him (before was freezing/defrosting them to go with his soaked cat kibble), and he has pecked a few times, but not tried to eat them.
The intention was that once he could fly and feed himself we would sit outside one morning, open his cage, and hope that he would find his way to his family who are still around our house. At this point we would really miss him, but it feels like the right thing to do.
However, after discovering this subreddit it seems many people keep them as pets, and that releasing them might not work. Keen to hear anyone’s thoughts. Thanks!